Course Announcements

• 5/20  MT2 solutions are now posted.  The HW will be due Thursday for the remainder of the quarter due to the midterm and Memorial Day.  If you need to turn in the HW Friday instead, make sure that Wenjun gets it before he takes off for the long weekend.
  
• 3/31  If you have not already filled out the enrollment survey, please do so before Wednesday's class.
  
• 3/31 The first day's lecture notes are posted on GoPost.  Access is limited to registered students, and the list is automatically updated at midnight every day.
  
• 3/18 Web-based communications for which it is appropriate to limit access to registered students will be posted on the class GoPost.  This includes posting of lecture notes, homework solutions, and exam solutions, as well as any chat-room discussion boards in which class members wish to participate.  Auditors should contact Prof. Olmstead to have his or her UWNetID added to the list of participants.
  
• 3/18 Welcome to Physics 328, Statistical Mechanics.  To help me prepare the course at the proper level, please fill out this Start of Quarter Survey by April 4.  If you were registered on March 19, you should receive an email announcing this survey and containing the correct URL.
  
• 
  Older announcements.

Office Hours and Contact Information

• Prof. Marjorie Olmstead olmstd@u.washington.edu    Office: B433    685-3031

• Office Hours:  B433 (may spill over into adjacent lounge by B439).
• After class, 11:20-12:00 MWF or by appointment.
• Teaching Assistant Wenjun Jiang  wjjiang@u.washington.edu
  

Course Links

• Homework
• Web Communications
• Start of Quarter Survey
• GoPost
  
• Reference
• Exam Info
• Syllabus
• General Course Information
• Results of Enrollment Survey.

General Information

• Text
• The required text is Statistical and Thermal Physics, by Michael D. Sturge (A. K. Peters, 2003).
• Required Work
• There will be 9 regular homework assignments (see Homework page)
• There will be 2 midterm examinations (see Exam Info page)
• There will be 1 cumulative final examination (see Exam Info page)
• Grade Calculations
• Your best 8 homeworks will count 25% of your grade.
• The best 3 of (midterm 1, midterm 2, final, final) will count 25% each.  In other words, if you do better on the final than on one of your midterms, the final will count 50% of your grade and your best midterm will count 25%.  If you do worse on your final than on the midterms, the final will count the same as each midterm -- each worth 25%.
• Timing
• Homework assignments must be turned in by 5 pm the day on which they are due to either Prof. Olmstead or the TA.  Homework turned in between noon and 5 pm should be brought directly to the TA or placed in his mailbox in the main office.  There will typically be a folder there for the homeworks.
  
• If you have special circumstances beyond your control (getting very sick, family emergency, job interview, grad school visits, etc.) that prevent you from timely homework or from being at a midterm, you must contact Prof. Olmstead BEFOREHAND to discuss whether or not accommodations are appropriate.   Circumstances which you should have been able to control (e.g. bad time management), or late notification of Prof. Olmstead (e.g., when you get back from the interview and not before you leave), results in that assignment or midterm being the one which is dropped.

Links to Physics Career/Major Information

• Information on Majoring in Physics at UW.
• UW Women in Science and Engineering
Provides networking, mentoring, tutoring, Study Center (for Credit!)
• UW Chapter of the Society of Physics Students
• Information on Physics Graduate Schools
  
• UW Libraries Reference page on Jobs and Careers.
• American Physical Society Statistical Reports on Physics Education and Employment, including
• 
  
• 2004 Salary Summary Report(pdf file)

• Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2005 (pdf file)
  
  Data on current and historic trends in the representation of women in physics and astronomy, including comparative data on women in related fields. Discusses the academic "pipeline" and the point at which women are leaving physics. Data on US minority women and on women in physics in other countries are also presented. Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
  
• Physics Bachelors with Master's Degrees (pdf file)
This report describes physics bachelors who earned their degrees from 1991 through 1993, subsequently earned master's degrees in a variety of fields, and were working in 1999.   Master's degree fields, reasons for attending graduate school, and preparedness for graduate school are all discussed. Also documented are employment fields, salaries, knowledge and skills used on the job, and evaluation of undergraduate physics education.
• The Early Careers of Physics Bachelors (pdf file)
An examination of the employment patterns of people with no degrees other than physics bachelor's degrees, five to eight years after graduation. The report includes common job activities and skills used on the job. It also describes these physics bachelors' evaluations of how well physics education prepared them for careers.
• Initial Employment Report of 2001 and 2002 Physics and Astronomy Degree Recipients (pdf file)

• Physics and Astronomy Senior Report: Class of 2001 (pdf file)
• A window onto the backgrounds, experiences, and future plans of physics and astronomy majors at the point of graduation.

• 2002 Academic Workforce Report (pdf file)

• State-by-State listing of Companies Hiring Physics Bachelors (html) in 1999-2001
  

Old Announcements